The 5PM advisory is coming out now, and it indicates that a hurricane watch has been issued for the east coast of the U.S., including the entire South Carolina coast:
AT 5 PM EDT…2100 UTC…A HURRICANE WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE
U.S. EAST COAST NORTH OF ALTAMAHA SOUND GEORGIA TO CAPE FEAR NORTH
CAROLINA.
Waiting for the new graphics to come in…
Update: Graphics are in. Landfall just north of the peninsula at 2pm Thursday afternoon. Also note the hurricane watch. It’ll strike at high tide but with the current trend just to the right of Charleston, the peninsula may be spared the worst of the surge.
Ernesto is still a 45 MPH storm, and is very close to making its first U.S. landfall at the southern tip of Florida and the Keys.
Update 2: Ernesto is likely to have 70 MPH winds as it makes landfall — very close to hurricane strength. This is a bit up from earlier, but we’ll see what happens as it goes over Florida. Personally I’m not so sure it’s going to make it off Florida’s coast with tropical storm force winds…but you never know with these things. Remember, I’m no expert, just an avid weather watcher. 
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